Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

The antibody tests are crucial to reopening the country, but they come with many of the same flaws as the early virus tests. Complicating matters, the FDA approved a wide range of tests to get them to the marketplace faster. But that means there's a whole lot of inaccurate tests out there. Meanwhile, viral testing hiccups and shortages continue.

The New York Times:
Covid-19 Antibody Test, Seen As Key To Reopening Country, Does Not Yet Deliver
A law firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., tested employees who hoped, with the prick of a finger, to learn if they might be immune. In Laredo, Texas, community leaders secured 20,000 of the new tests to gauge how many residents had been infected. In Chicago, a hospital screened firefighters to help determine whether they could safely stay on the job. In recent weeks, the United States has seen the first rollout of blood tests for coronavirus antibodies, widely heralded as crucial tools to assess the reach of the pandemic in the United States, restart the economy and reintegrate society. (Eder, Twohey and Mandavilli, 4/19)

The Washington Post:
FDA Did Not Review Many Coronavirus Antibody Tests Flooding The Market
The Food and Drug Administration, criticized for slowness in authorizing tests to detect coronavirus infections, has taken a strikingly different approach to antibody tests, allowing more than 90 on the market without prior review, including some marketed fraudulently and of dubious quality, according to testing experts and the agency itself. Antibody, or serological, tests are designed to identify people who may have overcome covid-19, including those who had no symptoms, and developed an immune response. They are not designed to detect active infections. (McGinley, 4/19)

Politico:
Cuomo Says State To Test Thousands For Covid-19 Antibodies
New York will begin testing thousands of residents this week for Covid-19 antibodies as the state moves to reopen the economy in the coming weeks and months, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. With data suggesting the coronavirus has passed its apex in New York, Cuomo said health officials will begin conducting an initial 2,000 antibody tests per day — or 14,000 a week — on a random sample of New Yorkers in addition to its diagnostic testing for the virus. (Young, 4/19)

The Wall Street Journal:
To Get Back To Work, Companies Seek Coronavirus Tests For Workers
Companies from Amazon.com Inc. to General Motors Co. are exploring ways to test their employees for Covid-19 before they come in to work. Regular tests for workers could keep exposure to sick employees to a minimum and boost employees’ confidence about coming back to work, corporate medical advisers and human-resources executives say. Yet companies face hurdles in rapidly building testing capacity. For one, tests remain tough to obtain in large quantities, those people say, and the practice raises potential issues of privacy and liability. (Krouse, 4/20)

ABC News:
Coronavirus Testing Only Part Of The Solution To Reopen US: Dr. Deborah Birx
While acknowledging the importance of testing, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that it is only part of the solution to reopen the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. "One of those critical -- critical -- legs of the stool is testing," she said on ABC’s "This Week" Sunday, but added that monitoring cases and expanding testing are the other two elements. (Arnholz, 4/19)

And testing is only one part of the steps needed to get the country back to normal —

NBC News:
'Army' Of Contact Tracers Will Be Needed In Coronavirus Fight. Experts Say That Could Cost Billions.
With data continuing to suggest New York is "flattening the curve" in the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that the next phase in the battle for his state and others is on the horizon: contact tracing.But it will come at a hefty cost. The labor-intensive commitment involves identifying those who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and interviewing them to find out where they have gone and whom they’ve come in contact with, an effort that has been effective in controlling other outbreaks, including tuberculosis and SARS. (Ortiz, 4/17)

CBS News:
On The Trail Of COVID-19: Contact Tracing The Virus
When we talk about fighting the COVID-19 virus, we hear a lot about social distancing, self-isolation and vaccines. What's weird is that you don't hear much about another incredibly important tool in fighting epidemics: contact tracing. It means detective work. When somebody tests positive, you ask for the names of anyone they've been in contact with recently. (4/19)

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